Book Review Monday- Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?
For this Book Review Monday, I am going to be reviewing Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs. This is a companion novel to the Miss Peregrines universe which came out in September. It is a collection of ten short stories. This book is mentioned in the Miss Peregrines series as a book full of Peculiar stories for Peculiar children. Like all my other reviews, it will follow the set layout, except there will be no character chat.

Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs- Contains Spoilers

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book. I gave it 5/5 stars and read it in a couple of days. I read it straight after finishing Library of Souls (the final book in the series). I don't think I've said on here that I wasn't the hugest fan of Library of Souls, but this book restored my faith in the Miss Peregrines universe. You can read this book even if you haven't read the Miss Peregrines series, but I highly recommend you read the Miss Peregrines series.

Cover Design 

Firstly, ignore the Zazu Tsum Tsum. This photo is taken for my Instagram. Secondly, how beautiful is this cover? When I first saw the cover, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. But once I saw it in person, I fell in love. The tree (if it can be called a tree) has pictures from each story weaved in. I really like how detailed and intricate it is. 

Plot

Before Miss Peregrine gave them a home, the story of peculiars was written in the Tales. 

Wealthy cannibals who dine on the discarded limbs of peculiars. A fork-tongued princess. The origins of the first ymbryne. These are but a few of the truly brilliant stories in Tales of the Peculiar—known to hide information about the peculiar world—first introduced by Ransom Riggs in his Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series. Riggs now invites you to share his secrets of peculiar history, with a collection of original stories, as collected and annotated by Millard Nullings, ward of Miss Peregrine and scholar of all things peculiar.

This plot overview is taken from Goodreads. The average rating on Goodreads is 4.21/5 and is taken 3629 ratings.

Opinion

I've already said that I loved this book and that it restored my faith in the series. I hope we get more books like this from the Miss Peregrines world. I love how it doesn't spoil the series and that it immerses you in the series.

The book is told through different voices, but the writing style is still very similar. It is told as though Millard is writing footnotes in the book. I really liked the footnotes that Millard's character added.

My favourite stories from the book were:

• The fork tongued princess
• The woman who befriended ghost
• The pigeons of Saint Paul
• The girl who could tame nightmares

I really liked the illustrations in this book. Before each story, there was a picture of something to do with the story. They were made from wood carvings that were printed and then put in the books.

So that was my review of Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs. Leave a comment saying what your favourite story in the book was.

Love,

Carenza x

  

Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children Movie Review| It'sCarenzaB

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How are you?

As some of you may know, the Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children movie came out on September 30th. It's safe to say it is being talked about in the book community a lot. Some people all ready have their reviews out as they were invited to previews of the movie. Although I wasn't invited to see the movie early, I was lucky enough to go to a preview screening at my local cinema as part of a charitable event late on September 29th. It was one of the best decisions I have made. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and am 100% going to see it again. I have never reviewed a movie before but I thought that this would be a good place to start. The layout will be similar to my Book Reviews: non-spoiler thoughts,poster review, plot, character chat, differences from the book and opinions. If you want to read my Book Review of Miss Peregrines, click here.

Disclaimer

Just a quick disclaimer- in no way, shape or form am I saying that I know better than the people who made this movie. I am talking about as a book-movie adaptation, I am not trying to critique the cast and crew and say I know better because I don't.
Also this review contains spoilers for the books as well as the movie so if you haven't read the books I would advise you don't read this review.

Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children Movie Review- Contains Spoilers 

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

I gave Miss Peregrines 4/5 stars as a movie and for accuracy I gave it 3.5/5 stars. There were a lot of changes from the book, some of which enhanced the story, others which made no sense and didn't add to the story. I went into this movie with high expectations and left feeling that most of my expectations had been met.

When I heard this was going to be a movie, TBH I thought here we go again, another failed book-movie adaptation. However once I heard that Tim Burton was going to be directing it, I immediately changed my opinion. I knew that this story was the perfect story for Tim Burton to turn into a movie. Then I saw who the cast were and I got thoroughly excited. We had the perfect director and cast for this fantastically spooky story.

Poster Review

I really like the poster as it shows you all of the peculiar children and Miss Peregrine protecting them. I think it links really nicely to the theme of the story. 

Plot

The first three quarters of the movie follow the plot of the book so I am going to explain the last quarter of the film as I am assuming most people who have seen the movie have read the books. 

So in the last quarter of the movie, the Peculiar children and Jacob have had to leave their loop in 1943 and are escaping to a loop in 2016 via a new loop. They arrive at Blackpool in 1943 and go through an abandoned ghost train ride on the pier. They are then transported to 2016 Blackpool in January. Jacob, Emma and the rest of the Peculiar children head over to were the Baron and the rest of the Hollows are keeping Miss Peregrine captive. They threaten the Baron and start a fight, which takes place on the pier. Enoch has brought back all the dead skeletons on the ship they used to travel from Wales and are now using them as an army. This is the scene where we see Tim Burton's cameo. Somehow the Peculiar children win and kill all the full blown Hollows. They then have to defeat the Hollows that look like people. We have a scene were chaos rains and Olive gets frozen. Emma uses her power to hold back the Baron but runs out of air, while this is happening Jacob is trying to free Miss Peregrine and the rest of the captured carers. The Baron slips in and transforms into Jacob. Emma and Enoch burst in and have to confront to Jacobs. They only find out that the Baron is Jacob when he reacts to being picked up by another Hollow and having his eyes eaten. Jacob frees Miss Peregrine but she is injured. The Peculiars head back to 1943 while Jacob stays in 2016. He travels back to Florida and finds his grandfather alive, who then persuades Jacob to go and find the Peculiar children. After some travelling he finds them. When he meets Emma, he tells her his story but she stops him and kisses him. From Blackpool Tower Miss Peregrine watches as they sail of on their adventures.   

Character Chat

I am going to talk about 4 characters from the movie and they are Jacob "Jake" Portman, Emma Bloom, Miss Peregrine and The Baron.

Jacob "Jake" Portman 

 

Asa Butterfield portrayed Jake in the movie. I think that he was the perfect person to play Jacob as this is what I imagined Jacob would look like when I read the books. I feel like in the movie we got to see more of Jacob's excitement about discovering the world of the peculiar's. I  felt like I could relate to Jacob a bit more in movie than in the book as the movie was set in 2016. There were lots of moments when you could tell that Jacob was an outsider and Asa did these scenes perfectly. I also loved how protective Jacob was of the children and you could tell that Asa had put a lot of effort into these scenes. I was very happy with his performance as Jacob and I really loved his on screen relationship with his dad. Chris O'Dowd (who played Jacob's father) and Asa's scenes were so funny, especially the scene were they see Miss Peregrine and Jacob starts shouting to her. I also loved his on screen relationship with his grandfather and Emma, they were very realistic scenes. 

Ella Purnell portrayed Emma Bloom in the movie. I had never heard of Ella Purnell before the movie so I was looking forward to seeing her performance. Most of you will know that Emma and Olive's powers were swapped, which is something I go into more detail later. I felt as though Emma in the movie didn't care when Abe died, but in the book she gets very upset. I also imagined Emma to be this fiery character and in the movie I felt as though she was too nice. Maybe this was something to do with the power swap, but I didn't like Emma as much in the movie as I did in the books. I still think that Ella was a fantastic Emma and I loved her on screen relationship with Asa as Jake.     

Eva Green portrayed Miss Peregrine in the movie. I know that Eva and Tim have worked together before and was really happy when I heard she had been cast as Miss Peregrine. She was fantastic as Miss Peregrine, defiantly more bad-ass than in the books but it's something I preferred. I also loved how she made her movements bird-like, I felt like this was a really nice and subtle touch to the character. Miss Peregrine in the movie was defiantly more in control of situations and almost dominated the scenes she was in. You could sense that her character really cared about the children she had to look after. I loved the scene when the Baron invaded the home and she was like "no you listen to me" and totally bossed Baron around. 

Samuel L Jackson portrayed The Baron in the movie. I was surprised when I heard they had cast Samuel as The Baron as in the books I felt as though he was a bit of a push over, I was never really scared of him. However, once I saw the movie my opinion changed. The costume and special effects/ costume and make up made The Baron look really scary. I really didn't like the white eyes as they freaked me out a bit. I loved how sassy Samuel made The Baron, I never imagined him as a sassy character but it really worked. 

Differences from the book

Obviously when we get a book to movie adaptation, there are bound to be changes. Some changes are for the better and enhance the story, others not so much. Here are some changes from the book to the movie and my opinions. This is in no particular order.

The Hollows eating children's eyes

I thought that this was a good change as it made the Hollows seem more scary. Also the way they ate the eyeballs was horrible. I liked the idea that if you ate enough eyeballs you became more "human"

Emma and Olive's power swap

I personally felt as though this swap was unnecessary. Emma and Olive are two great individuals, why did they need each others powers? Also when I imagined Olive I always saw her as a little girl rather than a teenager. The swap didn't add anything to the story.

Jacob's grandfather never dying

Again, I felt as though this was an odd decision. Abe plays a part in this story but his part is to introduce Jacob to the Peculiars. I felt as though him never dying was a bit of a paradox as if he hadn't died Jacob wouldn't have gone to the island and prevented his death.

Blackpool

This was a new addition to the story in which the last quarter of the movie in which Jacob and the Peculiars fought the hollows and one. I personally really liked this scene as it allowed us to see a lot of the Peculiars in a battle type situation. They got to show off their powers which was quite cool. Also Tim Burton had a cameo here, which was a nice touch.

Miss Peregrine's Recovery

At the end of the movie we see that the Peculiars have got Miss Peregrine back. This is a big inconsistency with the story of the next book as they spend most of the next book trying to get Miss Peregrine back. I would be interested to see where they take the Hollow City story line from here.

Opinions

As I said at the start of my review, I gave Miss Peregrines 4/5 stars as a movie and 3.5/5 stars for accuracy. I have to say that this was one of the best book-movie adaptations I have seen. It kept the main essence of the story which drew fans in while adding some new things. I couldn't have been happier with the cast as they portrayed the characters wonderfully. Yes some of the people they cast weren't the way I pictured them myself but I was still happy with them. I was so happy that Tim Burton directed this movie as he added his Gothic, crazy touches to this amazing story. I loved the humor in this film. There were moments when I laughed out loud which was something I didn't do while reading the book. Like I already mentioned, I especially loved the scene were Jacob and his father arrive in Wales and they see a Peregrine and Jacob starts shouting at it saying "Don't crap on us!". I will be honest, I am interested to see how they go into a second film if they make a second film as I feel like it would be hard to start the Hollow City story with where they left it. Overall I am very happy with this adaptation and I will definitely try and see it again in the cinema, I've also bought the companion book that goes along with the movie and tells you how they made the movie.      

Note: all pictures in this post are taken from Google and I do not own them/ take credit for them.

Top 10 Authors| It'sCarenzaB

Hey guys!
How are you?

Today I thought I'd share with you my Top 10 favourite authors as I find these types of post really interesting. These authors are my current favourites and at some point this will change. I have ranked these authors backwards, so it will start at 10 and finish at 1, I hope you like this post!

10) Jenifer Niven

The reason I put Jenifer Niven on this list was because I really enjoyed her book All The Bright Places. Yes, the book has some huge flaws and doesn't portray mental health how it actually is, but this book does make people aware about mental health. I read All The Bright Places in July 2015 and really enjoyed it. It was a nice fun read and it does make you care about the main characters.

9) Victoria Schwab (also known as VE Schwab)

I'll be honest, I've only read one VE Schwab book, but it was such a good book! Victoria Schwab writes about such unusual ideas and comes up with such amazing characters, it's impossible not to fall in love with her writing style. Also she throws in plot twists that no one sees coming. I really want to read more from her, especially the Darker Shade of Magic series as I have heard nothing but good reviews about it.

8) Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan makes it on to the list for his Percy Jackson series, which I am currently marathoning. Having read the first book about 2 years ago, I was eager to continue with the series, but it wasn't until December 2015 that I bought the rest of the books. I'm currently reading the thrid book and really enjoying it. Though these books are aimed at people younger than myself, they do actually teach you about Greek Mythology and I have learned quite a bit from these books.

7) Maggie Stievfater

I have put Maggie Stievfater on here for her Raven Cycle series as I really liked it. I have only read the first two books, but I can't wait to read the thrid one as it focuses on my favourite character Blue. A few years ago, I did try to read The Wolves of Mercy Fall  but ended up giving up, but now I am more determined to go and read more of her books. Once I've finished the Raven Cycle, I do plan on doing a series review on here.

6) Carrie Hope Fletcher

Having watched Carrie's YouTube channel for around 3 years, I knew I would love her books. I haven't read her most recent one as I am meeting her at a book signing and I get my copy then.  In her other book, All I Know Now, she writes like she's having a conversation with you and I really liked that. She gave you small insights into her own life and made each story relavent to the topic of the chapter.

5) John Green

We are now into the top 5!

John Green had to feature on this list, as his books were some of the first contempary books I have read. My favourites are defintly The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska. Although his books are somewhat similar, they all have their own unique twists. I hope in the future he writes more books as I would love to read something new from him.

4) Ransom Riggs

Again, another author that had to feature on this list. I read the first book in the Miss Peregrines series in a very short amount of time in February and I loved it. I am so glad that it is going to be turned into a film as it is being directed by Tim Burton. The use of old photographs does add something to the stories, though sometimes it does feel like he is adding photos which have no relavence to the actual plot. I haven't finised this series, I actually decided to put down the third book because I wasn't enjoying it as much as the other two.

3) Sarah J Maas

Is it any surprise that Sarah J Maas is on this list? I really love her books and have yet to find a book of hers that I don't like. I have to say that I do prefer the A Court of Thornes and Roses series to her Throne of Glass series. Her books are definitly not YA, they are more New Adult as they do have some very steamy moments (especially ACOMAF). But both series have series bad-ass heroines, which I really like. I can't wait to read Empire of Storms which comes out on September 5th. 

2) Cassandra Clare

Again, is it any surprise that Cassandra Clare is on this list? Probably not. I have been reading Cassandra Clare books for 3 years now and I love every single one she has released. My favourite series of hers is The Infernal Devices, but I do have a lot of love for her other series. Her books are so beautifully written and the characters are just beyond beautiful, I wish they were real. This year I have bought 10 Cassandra Clare books (9 of which are repurchases for the new US covers).

If you want to read my Lady Midnight Review, click here

1) J K Rowling

Obviously, JK Rowling has to be number one on this list. Harry Potter was such a huge part of my childhood, that I couldn't not feature it on this list. Harry Potter will always be a part of my life, I read them when I was little and I fell in love. I can't even count the amount of times I have read Harry Potter or watched the movies. The books always make me happy and I will never get bored of them. They just have a huge sentimental value to me.

So that was it for today's post, I hope you guys liked it. All my social media links are in a tab called About Me, leave a comment saying who you're favourite authors are.

Carenza x 

February Wrap Up and March TBR 2016| It's Carenza B

Hello!
So today I have my second Wrap Up and TBR, you can read my first one here. Like my last Wrap Up and TBR, I haven't read as many books as I would have liked to. Each book will have a short description as most of them will be reviewed at some point. So here is my Wrap Up and TBR, enjoy!

February Wrap Up

February was a slightly better reading month than January as I read 3 books, I'm slowly getting better at reading books and making more time to read them.

The first book I read in the month of February was Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas and holy crap it's amazing. I was already half way through this book by the beginning of the month. I won't go into too much detail as you really need to have read the other three books in the series to understand how good it is and all that happened in it. I am really happy with how it ended but I need more and I can't wait for the next one. I plan on reviewing the series at some point, so keep your eyes out for that.

  

The next book I read was Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and this was my favourite book of the month, my full review went up on Monday and you can read it here. I won't go into too much detail but I will say that I love it and I can't wait to read the other books, and guys the movie looks amazing. Eva Green as Miss Peregrine is perfect and I can't wait till October 7th, if you guys would like any posts about the movie let me know.

 

The final book I read this month was Truthwitch by Susan Dennard and I received this in the February Illumicrate. Again like Queen of the Tearling, I have a love-hate relationship with this book. I love the idea behind it, that two girls friendship can save the world but there was just so much terminology that I didn't understand and I felt like it could have been explained better. I plan on reviewing this as my next Book Review Monday Post.  

March TBR

I plan on reading 4 books this month, one being a novella and one of these books has been carried over from my February TBR.

The first book I plan on reading is one that I don't have a copy of and that is Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. I joined the Shadowhunter fandom 3 years ago and haven't looked back since. I love the characters, her writing style and just everything about these books has me hooked. So far I know that Lady Midnight will be part of a trilogy called the Dark Artifacts, and that it is set in Los Angeles and the main characters are called Emma Carstairs (who we met in Heavenly Fire) and Julian Blackthorn. I am so excited to read this as I have been waiting since the last book came out for a new one.   

Next I plan on reading my World Book Day book and that is Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell. I have never read a Rainbow Rowell novel before so I am excited to read this. The book revolves around the character of Elena, an 18 year old die hard Star Wars fan. Elena excepts to be part of a line of thousands of people waiting to see the new movie, instead she's part of a line of 3. Elena then has to endure this and do some pretty weird things, which I will let you guys find out. 

  

Then I plan on reading The Assassins Blade by Sarah J Maas, this is a bind up of 5(?) novellas, and all of them take place before Throne of Glass. I'm really looking forward to this but apparently you are suppose to read this before Queen of Shadows, but I don't think that it will have a major impact on your reading experience.

 

Finally I plan on reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, like I said in my previous TBR post I love this book and the character of Jane. I can't wait to read it again and fully appreciate it rather than study it.

So that concludes my Wrap and TBR post, I'm sorry it's a day late but I am super busy and the closer we get to my exams the more busy I will be. But after June, I have a lovely long 12 week holiday so hopefully I'll be blogging loads. I am thinking of changing my upload day to a Saturday as it is easier for me and I feel that Saturday is a good day to post. Don't forget to follow my blog by clicking the follow button, and leave me a comment about your reading habits from the last month. Don't forget to follow my Twitter and Instagram (@itscarenzab) and my business email is itscarenzab@gmail.com 

Carenza x   

Book Review Monday- Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs| Its's Carenza B

Hello!
So today I have another Book Review Monday and today's post is all about Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I read this over two days and I honestly can't wait to get my hands on the other books in this series. I read this over half-term, while staying in London and I have to say it has been my favourite read of 2016 so far. So without further a do, here is my thoughts, feels and opinions!
Warning:
This review contains spoilers, if you have not read this book I would advise you to read it and then read my review as I don't want to spoil it for you.

Cover

Can we just take a minute to appreciate this cover? Although my use of flash makes it brighter and probably wasn't the best idea, is this not a thing of beauty? It's a photo that is featured in the book and I love how the title is in several different fonts, which makes it seem even older and more rustic looking. Also the spine looks like it should be from some old fashioned book and I can't wait to put these beauties on my shelves! 

Plot

Miss Peregrine's follows a young boy called Jacob Portman living in Florida. Jacob grew up on his grandfather Abe's crazy stories about monster and were he lived during the war (World War Two). At first Jacob believes the stories but as he grows up he realizes they are just a figment of his grandfathers imagination. The story then jumps to a now teenage Jacob, who is unhappily working in his families chain store. He suddenly receives a phone call from his panicked granddad, who now suffers from a dementia like illness, demanding where the key is. Jacob tries to reason with him, but he hangs up. Upon arriving at his grandfathers house it is clear something is wrong, and he finds a trail leading into the woods. After a short distance he finds his grandfathers mutilated corpse and he sees some monster, like the ones his grandfather use to tell him about. His grandfather begs him to go and tell "the bird" that "they found him" and he dies. After these traumatic events, Jacob is sent to a psychiatrist and has regular appointments. While clearing his grandfathers house out, he finds a box of old photos and a letter from a mysterious women called Miss Peregrine's. He then decides to head out to the island his grandfather used to tell him about, after he has persuaded his parents and psychiatrists. The island is a small one of the coast of Wales and doesn't have much to do. After making his way up through the woodland, Jacob notices someone following him and he runs after them, going through this old cave. He is then jumped by the people he chased and they take him hostage, revealing he has time traveled to 1940. He notices that they have very peculiar talents and it is revealed that these are the children his grandfather told him about. He is then taken to to the house were his grandfather lived and introduced to everyone, including Emma Bloom (who took him hostage) and Miss Peregrine. He then spends the next few days travelling between the present and 1940. When weird things begin happening in the present, it is revealed that wights (a failed peculiar experiment) are trying to kill the protectors of the peculiar's. Jacob, Emma and the other peculiar's must fight off these threats and Jacob must also make his own decision about whether he will stay with the Peculiar's or will he stay with his parents.

Characters

The first character I am going to talk about is Jacob Portman. I really like Jacob, he is a slightly cheeky teenager who will do anything to infuriate his parents. He seems to despise his parents wealth and goes out of his way to hang around with people who annoy his parents. I could tell that there was a really close bond between Jacob and his grandfather, a possibly closer bond than Jacob has with his own father and that his father had with his grandfather. I got the feeling that Jacob wasn't close to his parents and that his parents didn't really care about him. I felt really sorry for him, and could see the change him in after he became obsessed with finding the island his grandfather had told him about. I was really surprised by his decision to stay with the peculiar's but at the same time thought it was for the best.

The next character I am going to talk about is Emma Bloom. Again, I really liked Emma but it did take me a while for me to like her. At first I thought she was a bit hot-headed and arrogant, but you learn that she doesn't want to see Jacob because he looks like Abe and she and Abe were lovers. You get this immediate  sense of some kind of relationship building between her and Jacob, but you are unsure as to whether it is romantic or not. I felt that Emma was the rebellious one of the Peculiar's and that she would do anything to save them. I was surprised by how old she was, I thought she was a teenager but when you see a picture of her she must be in her twenties at least.

The final character I am going to talk about is Miss Peregrine. I have a on-off relationship with her character as at first she was really nice and she let Jacob come and go, but then she becomes more cruel and either insists he stays or leaves. You learn that this decision is because she wants to protect the peculiar's, but still it's a bit harsh seeing as Jacob has only just discovered this world and he needs to get use to it. I am intrigued to see where her character goes as at the end of the book, she is stuck  as a bird.

Opinion

I am going to be 100% honest, I didn't want to read this book when my mum bought it in August. I thought it would be creepy and horrid and give me nightmares, but I was just judging it by its cover. It wasn't until I saw Jessethereader (Jesse) rave about it on his channel that I decided to pick it up. I really enjoyed it and found that I couldn't  put it down, and this is very rare that I will find a book like this. I really liked his writing style and found it so interesting that he came up with lots of the ideas from old photos. I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy and I hope he brings out more books, Ransom I need more books! I also believe that it's being made it to a movie but I'm not 100% sure.

So those were my thoughts, feels and opinions on Miss Peregrine's. If you have read this book, please leave a comment down below telling me what you thought. Don't forget you can follow my blog by clicking the follow button. Also don't forget to follow my Instagram and Twitter (@itscarenzab), and if you have any business inquires please email me at itscarenzab@gmail.com
Carenza x